Batman (Earth-B)
Strictly speaking "Earth-B" was not official until ICG's The Official Crisis Crossover Index and The Official Crisis Index which gave conflicting information regarding it.The Official Crisis Index had it as where stores that couldn't fit into Earth-One continuity resided on Earth-B while The Official Crisis Crossover Index put DC's humor comics (such as Inferior Five) on Earth-Twelve and "serious" out of continuity stories on Earth-B.) The Crisis on Infinite Earths: Absolute Edition acknowledged this confusion and formally recognized Earth-B as being two separate Earths: Earth-Twelve and Earth-Thirty-Two. More over The Compendium presented Earth-Forty as another Earth where elements of Earth-Two, Pre-Crisis Earth-One, and Earth-S were combined. As a result when one talks about the Batman on Earth-B they are actually talking about an amalgamation of two and possibly three different Batmen of different realities. History As a boy, Bruce Wayne witnessed his parents' gruesome murder by an unknown gunman in Gotham City on Earth-B and vowed revenge against all who broke the law. Bruce Wayne was the second son of Thomas and Martha Wayne, the other being his older brother, Thomas Wayne, Jr. Bruce's father was a well respected Gotham doctor, and his mother a homemaker. Thomas and Martha Wayne were very influential in Bruce's early life, instilling thoughts of truth and honesty. When his parents were murdered, Bruce was devastated. As a young adult, he worked to fulfill this vow by traveling the world to learn from masters of various defense disciplines. Eventually he became an exceptional escape artist, master of martial arts, acrobatics, science, technology, boxing, disguises, criminology and detective skills. Having perfected his skills, Bruce returned to Gotham City during World War II. However, he came to realize that his skills were not enough, that he would need an edge over his opponents—a guise that would strike terror into their hearts. Inspired by the bats that had so horrified him as a boy, Bruce donned a blue-and-gray costume complete with cape and cowl and renewed his mission. Bound by his personal code of justice, Batman resolves to never kill an enemy. Instead, he relies on his physical prowess and mental superiority to bring his enemies to justice. Early in his career, Batman teamed up with Sergeant Rock at a crucial point in World War II, attempting to help Rock apprehend the Nazi ruler of Germany, Adolf Hitler. Some time later, Batman also adopted a crime fighting partner, Dick Grayson, alias Robin. Batman met Adam Strange some time in his career and the two teamed up briefly in the Brave and the Bold #90. In the Brave and the Bold #99, Batman encountered Barry Allen (Also known as the Flash), a hero who gained superspeed thanks to an alien imp named Mopee directing a lightning bolt to his lab. Years later, Batman was still an active hero in Gotham City. He and Robin battled the Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker, a villain who had gone on a crime spree in Gotham. The Dynamic Duo of Earth-B also fought the notorious Man-Bat the same year. At an undisclosed time, Batman replaced Dick Grayson with Jason Todd as Robin, although the Grayson of Earth-B's status remains unknown. Over the years, the Batman of Earth-B has faced many insane homicidal killers in his war on crime, including the murderous Catwoman and the maniacal Cavalier. After teaming with fellow hero Wonder Woman, Batman was finally able to defeat Catwoman in the Brave and the Bold #131. His last recorded activities included working with the latter against the Joker and Rupert Thorne in Batman: The Last Angel. Continuity Notes * These all cover Earth-Thirty-Two and very little is known about the Batman of Earth-Twelve :* Bruce Wayne had an older brother, Thomas Wayne, Jr. (This idea has been reintroduced in New Earth with Lincoln March claiming to be Thomas Wayne, Jr) :* After the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne, their bodies are cremated and their ashes are placed in an urn. (Brave and the Bold #99) In the Earth-One continuity, they were buried in a cemetery. :* Batman and Adam Strange team up in the Brave and the Bold #90. At the time of this story on Earth-One, Adam Strange was unable to return to Earth from Rann or he would die. :* The Catwoman of Earth-Thirty-Two, unlike that of Earth-One, has no compunction against murdering and has done several times. :* The Cavalier of Earth-Thirty-Two often attempted to kill women early in his career by slashing at them with his sword. Although the Cavalier from Earth-One and the New Earth seemed to have made the decision to strike females in their way, they still refused to murder them, and made their decisions to strike females later in their criminal careers. * The Official Crisis Cross-over Index had some more key details about "Earth-B" not in The Compendium: :* Batman begun his career in WWII shortly before D-Day and teamed up with Sargent Rock during the conflict. :* Batman continued his career into the 1970s not appearing to age or marry. :* The Green Arrow apparently regained his lost fortune. * These aspects cover Earth Forty: :* A variant of Captain Marvel called Captain Thunder existed in this reality.This is based on the ashcan comic Thrill Comics #1 (1940) This makes Earth Forty one of the three oldest officially officially identified (the other two are Earth-Two-A and Earth-Quality). :* All newspaper comic stories of Batman from 1943-1946 occurred in this reality. :* Superman had a Superboy career but he worked out of Metropolis rather then Smallville. Behind the scenes This alternate universe of Earth-B was never specifically depicted, but was suggested to exist in a letters column by DC editor/writer Bob Rozakis as a possible explanation for certain non-continuity stories or character traits (for example, stories that showed Catwoman committing murder with no qualms, despite being established that she did not engage in that kind of activity). ICG's The Official Crisis Crossover Index and The Official Crisis Index both formally accepted the existence of Earth-B but only gave the barest of overview with The Official Crisis Cross-over Index presenting Earth-B and Earth-Twelve as separate realties with the main defining as being inconstant with Earth-One history with being edited by Murray B'oltinoff, or written by '''B'ob Hancy or E. Nelson 'B'ridwell being the main criteria. Most of these inconstancies occurred in ''B'rave and the '''B'old'' and World's Finest Comics Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium formally broke up Earth-B into two separate Earths: Earth-Twelve and Earth-Thirty-Two and fleshed out their respective differences from Earth-One. The Compendium also presented another Earth that mixed elements from Earth-Two, Earth-One, and Earth-S: Earth-Forty. Since each of these Earths has its own Batman the "Earth-B" Batman is actually an amalgamation of several different Batmen from several different Earths. References Category:Elseworlds Characters Category:Batmen of Parallel Earths